Tommy Hilfiger has described a surreal meeting with Michael Jackson and his young children in his new book , American Dreamer: My Life in Fashion & Business.
The designer reveals how he once met the King of Pop at his Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara in the 1990s. The singer had asked to collaborate on a clothing line, and he had visited him for a meeting.
WATCH: Michael Jackson’s children at his tribute concert. Post continues…
Tommy, his brother Andy and daughter Ally arrived to the estate in a helicopter and were picked up by “a choo-choo train, with a conductor and everything,” Tommy wrote.
”We were driving through Neverland, and no one was there. As we passed the Ferris wheel, it started up. Every seat was empty. We saw teacup rides and a racetrack and an amphitheater, all deserted,” the famed designer explains.
“We pulled up in front of the house, and a butler came out wearing white gloves. ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Michael will be coming; he is expecting you.'”
“We were standing in front of this massive gingerbread-style house when a giraffe walked by, followed by a string of baby elephants. Ally and Andy were looking at each other, like ‘This is crazy!’”
Tommy also revealed Michael’s children Prince, Paris and Blanket, who were very young at the time, were dressed in old-fashioned costumes with full make-up.
“Prince and Paris came barrelling down the stairs dressed as characters from a Broadway show or The Sound of Music – velveteen knickers, dirndl jumper, ruffled blouses, patent leather shoes, each in full makeup, their hair bleached blonde with dark roots. Blanket was an infant in nanny’s arms.”
Michael Jackson with his children, Paris and Prince.
Tommy said that when he went inside, he met with Jackson in his office where the star wore sunglasses and “was sitting in an enormous gold-and-burgundy throne… His face was heavily made up and he had a Band-Aid across his nose. He was fidgety.”
“He said, ‘We really have to do this clothing line together. I have millions of fans all over the world who are waiting for it.’ He spoke in the same wispy voice we had all grown accustomed to,” the 65-year-old said.
WATCH: Paris Jackson at the Neverland ranch. Post continues…
Tommy said he and his partners eventually turned down the collaboration with the pop icon as they had “bigger deals in mind’ at the time and were negotiating to buy Calvin Klein.”
“Michael continued to call and ask us to reconsider, but our decision was firm, and he never did the clothing line,” he wrote.
Michael died of a drug overdose in 2009 at age 50, leaving his millions of fans in mourning.
